(Top L to R) Ir Louis Yiu and Mr Chan; (bottom L to R) Ir Prof Louis Lock and Dr Lisa Sham, CA Division Observer at the webinar

Mr Patrick Chan, the Regional Solutions Architect – Digital Government and Smart City at Alibaba Cloud Intelligence Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and Philippines was cordially invited by the CA Division to present the captioned webinar on 30 March 2022 from 6:30 pm. Around 600 participants attended.

Ir Louis Yiu was the Facilitator and Ir Prof Louis Lock, CA Division Past Chairman and CAI Discipline Advisory Panel (CAI DAP) Chairman delivered the “Vote of Thanks” to the Speaker and the participants on behalf of the Division.

First, Mr Chan briefly introduced the development of Alibaba Cloud. He mentioned that the Cloud provides its services to users in 80 zones, including three in Hong Kong, across 25 regions around the world. He explained that the Hangzhou City Brain was a smart city platform developed in 2016 to reduce traffic congestion and improve urban management in Hangzhou using big data, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence (AI), among other cutting-edge technologies.

Mr Chan mentioned that Alibaba Cloud also collaborated with the Macau Government in 2017 to foster digital development of different sectors in Macau such as tourism, transportation and governance. Citizens and tourists could obtain real-time transport information using mobile app software to arrange their travel schedules properly. They could also access information on the government and submit their applications through official websites of government bureaus and departments.

Mr Chan also pointed out that Haikou City Brain was established in 2018. It had been serving governance, transportation, healthcare, tourism, and water utilities in Hainan to enhance the effectiveness of the public services. Half of the citizens obtain public services online, including weather reports, and real-time traffic information.

Ir Yiu monitored the question-and-answer session and Mr Chan responded to the participants’ questions. Ir Prof Lock concluded the webinar and expressed his gratitude to Mr Chan for his presentation and Ir Yiu for the arrangements on behalf of the Division.

(Top L to R) Dr Lisa Sham, CA Division Observer and Ir Prof Louis Lock; (bottom L to R) Ir Louis Yiu and Ir David Chan at the webinar

Ir Prof Louis Lock, CA Division Past Chairman and CAI Discipline Advisory Panel (CAI DAP) Chairman; Ir Louis Yiu, CA Division Committee Member and CAI DAP Task Leader of CAI Discipline (MHKIE (CAI)) for Lift/Escalator Engineers together with Ir David Chan, the Lift & Escalator Contractors Association (LECA) Technical Subcommittee Chairman were invited to present the captioned webinar on 20 April 2022 from 6:30 pm. Around 350 participants attended. The event was facilitated by Ir Yiu.

During the presentation, Ir Prof Lock introduced the core values and 21 disciplines of the Institution and the career path of a professional engineer via general and mature routes. He emphasised the benefits of being an HKIE member such as participating in learned society activities to stay up to date and broadening one’s professional network. He also explained the relevant lift and escalator engineering experiences to fulfil the HKIE’s Competence Requirements for applying for MHKIE (CAI). He encouraged the attendees to acquire MHKIE and join the CAI Discipline.

Ir Yiu briefed the attendees on the different roles of Registered Lift/Escalator Engineers (RLE/REE), the CAI elements in lift and escalator engineering, such as group control systems and elements related to safety such as brake monitoring switches. He also discussed management skills for lift and escalator engineers. In addition, he offered four tips to help prepare for a professional assessment: demonstrate engineering experience; show an understanding of CAI; study CAI technologies; and become familiar with safety, codes of ethics and innovation technologies.

Ir Chan shared the importance of control and automation for lift engineers. He described the highly structured framework in Hong Kong relating to the lift/escalator industry. He briefly defined Competence and elaborated on five generic areas of Chartered Engineers’ Competences and 12 areas of HKIE Competences. He encouraged lift professionals to be well prepared for HKIE professional assessment interview.

Ir Yiu kicked off the question-and-answer session and the speakers responded the participants’ questions subsequently. Ir Yiu expressed his sincere thanks to the speakers before concluding the webinar.